The present invention relates to wagering games and gaming devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a game in which the player plays against a foe such as another player or a gaming device processor.
The Othello® game is one of the most popular board games sold today. Othello® is a trademark of Anjar Co. Corporation. The basic idea of the Othello® game involves capturing an opponent's chips by turning them into the player's color. The winner at the end of the game has to have most of that player's color (typically either black or white) showing on a game board.
To capture an opponent's chip or row of chips, the player must border each end of the chip or row by a chip of the player's color. That is, all of the opponent's chips along an imaginary line drawn between the player's bordering chips turn to the player's color. To that end, the player's placement of a chip can capture multiple numbers of the opponent's chips in one or more rows, e.g., in a multitude of horizontal, vertical and/or diagonal directions, at the same time.
The corners of the Othello® board are valuable because corner chips can never be recaptured and can often protect whole collections of the player's chips from capture. The corners are so important that the players typically avoid playing near them until forced to do so. Edges of the Othello® board are also important because chips placed on the edges are more difficult to capture than chips in the middle of the board. In combination, the corner and edge positions give the player control in the game.
In the game, if the player's opponent is able to capture chips on the board, the opponent must play even if it would be advantageous to pass. Similar to chess, the opponent can be made to make a move that player would rather not make, e.g., to enable the player to capture an edge or corner. If the opponent is unable to capture any chips via a move, the opponent has to pass enabling the player to make two moves in a row.
The Othello® game is entertaining and easy to learn. The game, however, presents obstacles to being implemented in a gaming device, in which the player plays against a machine. For instance, how does the game processor know where to place a chip? If multiple spots exist for placing a chip, how does the processor know which spot the processor should choose? Moreover, what constitutes a gaming device win for such a base or bonus game?
U.S. Patent Application 2003/0100356 describes an Othello® type wagering gaming device having base and bonus game based loosely on the Othello® game. While one of the bonus games involve “flanking” or “bounding” the game's chips with player chips, none of the games in the application provides the game's chips a chance to counter a move by the player (if player selected) or for the player (if game selected for the player). That is, the application does not describe how the game or entity playing against the player can win back chips captured by the player or win new chips based on a move made by the player.
Further, while it is desirable in one aspect to implement the Othello® game into a primary or secondary gaming device, it is also desirable to expand or improve the existing Othello® game either as a non-wagering or wagering game.